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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991/03/27 - Minutes - Joint (Public Safety Commission) March 27, 1991 CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Joint Meetina of the City Council and the Public Safety Commission A. C.~T.T. TO ORDER A joint meeting of the City Council and the Public Safety Commission of the City of Rancho Cucamonga was held on Wednesday, March 27, 1991, in the Tri-Communities Conference Room of the Civic Center, located at 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, California. The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Mayor Dennis L. Stout. Present were Councilmembers: W~lliam J. Alexander, Diane Williams, Pamela J. Wright, and Mayor Dennis L. Stout. Absent was Councilmember: Charles J. Buquet II. Present were Commissioners: Pete Amodt, James Curatalo, Wayne Ketaily, Elvira West, George Yankovich, and Chair Daniel Glass. Absent was Commissioner: Patricia Quintana. Also present were: Jack Lam, City Manager; Jerry B. Fulwood, Deputy City Manager; Marti Higgins, Disaster Preparednees Manager; Chief Dennis Michael, Rancho Cucamonga Fire Protection District; Capt. Bruce Zeiner, Rancho Cucamonga Police Department; and Jan Sutton, Deputy City Clerk. , , , , , B. ITEMS OF DISCUSSION B1. Discussion of Decision Relatina to Law Enforcement Study (1301-00 SHERIFF) Mayor Stout requested to meet in Executive Session with the Council regarding this item before they started the joint discussion. The Council recessed to Executive Session at 7:06 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 7:20 p.m. with all members of the Council present (Buquet absent). Mayor Stout stated that Councilmember Alexander asked to have this item on the agenda because the Council felt this might be the opportunity to begin asking the Commission about their analysis that led to their decision on this study. City Council/Public Safety Commission Minutes March 27, 1991 Page 2 Councilmember Alexander stated he wanted to get the Commiseion's feelings and thoughts behind how they arrived at their motion. As an example he referred to their statement "Citizens of this community deserve a level of service consistent with other services provided within the City". He asked if they considered the service level to be unequal at the present time. Chair Glass stated the general thought was the issue of local control, since the City has under its jurisdiction presently fire service and emergency preparedness, along with the other facets of the City, and the Commission felt that the City having its own police department would facilitate services. Councilmember Alexander asked what they meant by local control because he felt they had that already through their contract with the County, or if they meant complete control over the agency by a body of people, because there was a difference. Commissioner Curatalo disagreed that the City had local control because he felt that policies set by the County She~iff's Department for County-wide operations were not sensitive to local needs at all times, and were sometimes in conflict, such as with the booking fees. Councilmembers Alexander and Wright felt the booking fee issue could not be used as a valid example, as that was County policy, and not Sheriff's Department policy, and it affected cities that also had their own police agencies. Chair Glass stated maybe that was not a good example, but in the case of booking fees, the stars are provided out of the substation of arrests made, and in many cities with police departments they can set the criteria under which a person would actually be booked or released in the field on citation, or processed in another way, rather than being hooked at the station. He felt the Sheriff's Department had a set policy about conducting those investigations, and if the City had their own police department, they might have more control over that. Councilmember Wright asked if the City of Upland had to pay booking fees if they book someone into the County facilities, and didn't they use those facilities. Commissioner Curatalo stated yes, but the City of Upland is considering issuing citations rather than incur bookings. Councilmember Wright felt that if Rancho Cucamonga wanted to go in that direction, they could also. Jack Lam, City Manager, clarified the booking fee issue, that it came about due to state budget problems, and felt this issue could only be settled through the court process. He stated every city is looking for ways to decrease the cost of these fees, and the main idea was to reduce the number of bookings. He stated the Sheriff's Department is working on a list of offenses that could possibly be handled by cite/release rather than booking to give to their contract cities. He stated the system the CAO of the County has set up is such that they claim if City Council/Public Safety Commission Minutes March 27, 1991 Page 3 the number of bookings is reduced, the amount for the per booking cost will go up, so in essence the amount owed will never change, so that is why he felt this matter would have to be settled in court. He felt that issue was independent of whether the City was contracted with the Sheriff's or not. Commissioner Curatalo stated another concern was the excessive rotation of personnel. Councilmember Alexander stated the Hughes, Heiss & Associates report states "by mostquantitative measures employed to evaluate law enforcement adequacy, current service levels are high. Response times per calls for service of all priority levels are equivalent to or better than service level standards for urban and suburban communities of comparable size and make up as Rancho Cucamonga...we found no compelling evidence that there are quality problems associated with the existing law enforcement services...the current contract service costing system provides'a financial advantage to the City by charging the City only for the direct cost of services delivered..." He felt the study indicated one thing and the motion made by the Commission indicated another and inquired why. Commissioner Yankovich stated the comparative cities were Oceanside and Palmdale or Lancaster. The Commission felt Rancho Cucamonga might have been compared to a city with the same population, but not with the same structure. They did not agree with the cities they were compared with. Commissioner Curatalo felt that generally there were a lot of assumptions in the report that the Commission disagreed with. He stated an example was a figure in the study that the department currently, at 104 personnel, has 49% proactive time. When questioned about this, the consultant suggested they only needed 30- 35% to be efficient, and when asked how he arrived at 49%, the consultant was very vague and did not give a clear answer. The Commission asked if this figure included time from the reserves since there were over 13,000 hours contributed by that group, and the consultant stated they did not include that in the study, so he wondered how they could negate that figure and not consider it in the study. He felt this indicated the study was inaccurate. Chair Glass stated the consultant indicated the proactive figure was probably a few percentage points high, that it was showing about 41%, but should have been about 38-39%, because the statistics were gathered from the CAD system, and that system did not split out reserves, it just lists statistics about the calls, so some reserve time was probably in there because they handle a certain amount of calls, etc., and that would be in the CAD system. Councilmember Alexander thought the Subcommittee from the Council and Commission tried to keep up all these aspects with the study during its development, and did a good job of it, but maybe it would have been beneficial to catch some of these things beforehand. Commissioner Amodt felt they were doing a critique of the study itself. He felt it was originally planned that the consultant would conduct the study, and then afterwards it would be up to the City to decide if they would accept all or some of the points covered in it. City Council/Public Safety Commission Minutes March 27, 1991 Page 4 Mayor Stout stated whether the City has a police department or a contract, there are issues that need to be addressed. An example would be the issue of a severe deficiency of higher level management positions in the substation, where the consultant recommends there be a lieutenant on each shift just like every other police department. He stated the study was also indicating there were too many patrol people based upon the proactive formula, when he did not believe that to be correct. He stated to accept this document at face value without a review, which is why they asked the Commission to do so, would have been folly. He stated whether everyone agreed or not, the final decision will be made by the Council. He stated he would like the opportunity to have a workshop on this, giving the Commission the opportunity to be prepared to discuss what their evaluation process was. He stated this was a long process, and even if the Council makes a decision, it will be two to three years before they could make any changes, so he did not see any pressure to do something immediately. He asked staff to set up a workshop to discuss this subject in-depth. Me stated he did not know how this issue would be resolved, but that it would need to be resolved one way or the other. Commissioner West felt that part of the Commission's recommendation was that if the funds were available, they should have their own police department, otherwise they should fix what they have. She stated they based their decision not only on the report and information provided,-but also on public input at their meetings. Mayor Stout felt it was important to have the public address the City Council on this issue. Commissioner Amodt stated the two questions asked of him by citizens were first, where would the City get the money to start and maintain a police department, then secondly, what about the liability insurance. He stated he was pleased with the work the Sheriff's Department was doing in the City. Commissioner Curatalo stated another problem he had with the report was because when the consultant mentioned costs, the current contract is $6.5 million, and he felt it was not very clear because it was based on 104 personnel. Then when the consultant says it would be $7.2 to $8.4 million if they were to have their own police department, the report refers to 120 personnel. He felt this was not comparative because of the difference in personnel counts. Mayor Stout stated the point the consultant was trying to make there was that by utilizing the Sheriff's contract personnel there are certain services that are provided through the larger organization which would have to be duplicated for a smaller organization, i.e., homicide, forensics, etc. On the other hand, the consultant is saying there are some deficiencies in his mind regarding upper management levels. It was felt by Councilmember Buquet and others that they need to address having higher ranking individuals making supervisory decisions on midnight shifts and so forth. City Council/Public Safety Commission Minutes March 27, 1991 Page 5 ACTION: Workshop to be held on April 22, 1991 at 7:00 p.m. to discuss the law enforcement study, with Chair Glass to p~epare an overview of the points the Commission had concerns about and information on how they arrived at their motion, to be provided to the Council prior to the meeting. , , ยท , , B2. Discussion of Items of Mutual Concern (0701-01 COMMISSION) Commissioner Wright asked about Disaster Preparedness. Marti Higgins, Disaster Preparedness Manager, felt they did well during the recent rainstorms, with the major problems occuring during rush hour traffic. She stated they had considered opening the EOC during one of the rush hours to help coordinate response with some of the cars getting stuck. She felt that was a positive sign because it meant the system was working. M~yor Stout asked Chief Michael if they kept statistics on drowning deaths due to flooding, because he felt many people who were new to the City were not aware of the flood history of the City, and do not always understand the problem and why there has been such an emphasis on flood control, that it was not done to just keep the streets dryer. Chief Michael, Fire District, stated they do not have those figures readily available, but that it has been a long time since they had a death due to drowning during a flood. Me stated they could go back and manually check some of the older records for that information. Councilmember Wright asked what was the next step in Disaster Preparedness. Marti Higgins, Disaster Preparedness Manager, stated they have finalized their disaster plan and it is being sent to the printer. She stated the next phase they are entering is a program that was approved last budget cycle for the Community Emergency Response Training (CERT), which takes them a step further than the initial preparedness. This program trains groups in industry, or schools, or neighborhoods, whereby they have a team using the incident command system and teaches them how to deal with the organizational aspects of surviving a disaster. Mayor Stout asked if there was some method to check the annexes provided by the schools to make sure that they are updated. Marti Higgins, Disaster Preparedness Manager, stated they are not provided any information from the schools in the-sense of an annex. She stated the annexes are the responsibilities the City has in general. Councilmember Willjams asked if they followed-up with the schools to make sure they were still prepared, or is it left up to them. She stated she was contacted by a teacher who was concerned that her school was negligent in that area. City Council/Public Safety Commission Minutes March 27, 1991 Page 6 Marti Higgins, Disaster Preparedness Manager, stated they have no legal authority over the schools, but they have dedicated their public education person to work with the schools and try to keep them working on their plans. Mayor Stout asked if the disaster system was regularly reviewed by the Public Safety Commission. Marti Higgins, Disaster Preparedness Manager, stated it was reviewed at their request. Commissioner West stated they usually request information after a specific incident to obtain all the details. Commissioner Amodt asked if Disaster Preparedness has ever considered asking to be on the agenda for the various School Boards to present their concern to the Board about keeping up on the disaster plan, that it was a concern of the Council and Public Safety Commission. Marti Higgins, Disaster Preparedness Manager, stated they have only worked with the superintendents in the past, they have not approached the School Boards at this point. Councilmember Alexander asked if the Commission had any goals or objectives for the upcoming year. Chair Glass stated they had recently had a goals workshop. He stated they spoke about having Commissioners attend more community events to let citizens know the Commission was concerned and to present another forum for people to address them instead of just coming down to City Hall during a meeting. He stated they also wanted to look at having a mobile emergency command unit to supplement the EOC, and it could be used on every day situations by the Fire or Police Departments. Another thing they discussed was a desire to look at the paramedic program again and re-evaluate it to see if there would be more community support. They also felt if the Council decided to go with a police department, or to enter into a long-term contract with the Sheriff's, that public safety be looked at as more of a total package, i.e., paramedics, disaster preparedness, police and fire could be instituted under one assessment for funding purposes. Commissioner Yankovich stated they have asked the Fire District to approach the Council about the paramedic issue in the near future. Mayor Stout asked what was the ratio of calls for medical assistance versus fire suppression. Chief Michael, Fire District, stated that 80% of their calls are medical calls. He also felt the subject was timely since they anticipated opening Fire Station No. 4 at the end of 1991, and discussed why they felt the ballot measure had failed and what they would do differently this time. City Council/Public Safety Commission Minutes March 27, 1991 Page 7 Councilmember Wright stated she thought the Commission might want to focus on taking a proactive stand, or educational approach, or something in that direction, in the areas of pedestrian safety and planning processes, but would also specifically like to see them focus on gangs and drugs in the City. She would like to see them involved in the creation of ideas of how the City can deal with those problems. She stated they had some programs but that they were not focused, like in a master plan on how to attack the problem. When the subcon~nittee was created to deal with that issue, that was what she was trying to accomplish. She thought maybe the Commission could take it on as one of their regular issues, just like they do with traffic safety, law enforcement, fire issues, etc., and treat it as a major area of concern. Councilmember Willjams asked if they could keep track of comparative statistics, are they improving or getting worse in related areas. She stated that gangs are getting more sophisticated, so it is not always easy to recognize what is gang activity now. Councilmember Wright stated she would like to see that just as they routinely ask for reports on traffic, they would ask for reports regarding gangs and drugs. Commissioner Yankovich stated that over the last two years they have had the Sheriff's Department Gang Bureau in to keep them updated on that issue, and also on graffiti, and they review that issue about every other month or so. He stated that Commissioner Quintana has requested a brochure from the Sheriff's Department dealing with gangs and drugs. Councilmember Willjams stated she knew the Co~unission was keeping up on it, and spoke about two upcoming seminars they might be interested in attending to keep up to speed on new developments. Commissioner Yankovich spoke about their efforts in working with residents in the Cucamonga area. Commissioner Amodt stated that drugs and gang activity is an area they are trying to find what their parameters are and what they can do as a Commission. Commissioner Ketaily asked when Councilmember Wright spoke about proactive involvement, was she suggesting the Commission as a group go with the Sheriff's Department and intermingle more with them, as far as being out in the field with them on certain public information activities. Councilmember Wright stated what she was referring to was, using pedestrian problems as an example, if they find there are pedestrian problems, then they would have a brochure created for educational purposes, or direct someone to find a film to be made available as an educational resource, etc. She stated in the area of planning, she thought they were doing some proactive work now, such as keeping track of where safety problems are and making sure those voids are filled. She stated as far as gangs and drugs, maybe there could be more ideas on how to deal with the situation. City Council/Public Safety Commission Minutes March 27, 1991 Page 8 Commission Ketaily stated perhaps the Commission should work with the Sheriff's Department to clearly identify what they are doing in order to reduce duplication of efforts. Councilmember Wright stated that connection was what she was looking for, that if the Sheriff's were doing it, then the Commission should be considered part of what was being done, and that the gang and drug programs are not only being done through the Sheriff's, but it should also be considered the City is in that partnership. She felt the Commission should be more involved and have input in how things are being set up, to see if current programs are meeting the City's needs, or do they need to be adjusted, but to solidify that link. She would like to see the Commission tied into that loop. Commissioner Curatalo stated the Commission is taking steps in that direction, that they recently had a report from the Gang Officer on the resources of his department, and of what the surrounding communities are doing on this issue, and how Rancho Cucamonga compares. Commissioner Ketaily stated he understood the concept but was unclear on the type of involvement wanted. Councilmember Wright stated she would like to see the same types of effort in gangs and drugs, and educational types of issues, as they have seen in the past on the fire study, and in their efforts in getting traffic safety issues taken care of, and in the law enforcement study. She felt the Commission has made dramatic changes in the City since its inception, and she would like to see their efforts expanded to cover these new issues. Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager, stated the Chair and Vice Chair have recently met with the Planning Commission Chair and Vice Chair to discuss how to coordinateon safety issues, and they have also met with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Environmental Management Commission. He stated the Commission will also be meeting on May 14 to have their second workshop on speed reduction in residential areas. , , , , , C. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC Cl. Mark Gutglueck, resident, was concerned that the conclusions made regarding the law enforcement study be drawn fairly, and also with the concept of local control. He referred to an investigation in Fontana regarding alleged corruption, and how that case was being investigated by the local police department, and felt they would be unable to treat it fairly. , , , , , , City Council/Public Safety Commission Minutes March 27, 1991 Page 9 D. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Moved by Alexander, seconded by Willjams to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously, 4-0-1 (Buquet absent). The City Council and Public Safety Commission meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jan Sutton Deputy City Clerk Approved by Public Safety Commission: May 7, 1991 Approved by City Council: May 15i 1991